Yeson Voice Center: traveling alone?

[Alessia]

Hello everybody! My name is Alessia, and in early August I'll be heading over to Seoul for the voice feminization surgery at the Yeson Voice Center.  I'm new here, but I've read a lot of the other posts related to the Yeson Voice Center, which has been extremely helpful! Because I'll be traveling alone my concern is about getting around after having the surgery.  I won't be able to speak so how will I travel around etc.  for example, if I need to take a taxi, how will I communicate where I need to go? Has anyone traveled to Yeson alone and can offer some advice on how they were able to get around Korea after surgery?  Any advice is greatly appreciated!! Thankssss ciao!

[AmyBerlin]

Hi Alessia,

a friend of mine traveled alone. She's not on Susan's, though. Maybe if you send me your email address via PM, I can forward it to her so she can reply to it, if she agrees.

I know that's probably very complicated, but maybe worth a thought if you don't receive any replies that are more to the point.

Regards,

Amy

[Alessia]

Hi Amy,

Yeah! that would be great! Sorry I'm new to Susan's, what does PM mean?  Thank you so much for replying I really really appreciate it!

Ciao

[Jessica Merriman]

PM means Personal Messaging which will unlock for you to use after 15 post's. It is one of the icons under you avatar.

[AmyBerlin]

Hi Alessia,

I'm sorry I failed to realize that you weren't up to 15 postings yet. Let's do it a different way. Send me an email to e96582d3@opayq.com and I'll forward it to my friend.

BTW, are you from Italy? Hey, we're almost neighbors in this global village – I live in Germany.

Amy

[Alessia]

@Jessica:  Thank you for explaining this to me !

@Amy:  Thank you! I'll send an email to the address you provided, thanks again for responding   I'm from Miami, in the United States, but I'm a Japanese/Greek/Italian mix

Ciao

[jenn90210]

Hello everybody! My name is Alessia, and in early August I'll be heading over to Seoul for the voice feminization surgery at the Yeson Voice Center.  I'm new here, but I've read a lot of the other posts related to the Yeson Voice Center, which has been extremely helpful! Because I'll be traveling alone my concern is about getting around after having the surgery.  I won't be able to speak so how will I travel around etc.  for example, if I need to take a taxi, how will I communicate where I need to go? Has anyone traveled to Yeson alone and can offer some advice on how they were able to get around Korea after surgery?  Any advice is greatly appreciated!! Thankssss ciao!

hi Alessia
i traveled alone last month and i was totally fine. language is a huge barrier in Korea anyway, so the fact that you won't be able to speak won't make a difference. i'd just type things on my phone, or write them down for people. also, you are gonna be given a set of flashcards at the clinic in Korean and English for you to use. most restaurants have a menu is English as well, so you can just point out what you wanna order. if you plan on taking a cab just make sure you have the address ready to show it to the driver.  people were very understanding and i didn't have trouble at all.

[inspire]

@Jessica:  Thank you for explaining this to me !

@Amy:  Thank you! I'll send an email to the address you provided, thanks again for responding   I'm from Miami, in the United States, but I'm a Japanese/Greek/Italian mix

Ciao

Hey Alessia,

I am planning to go alone in May. So if you can share the info you gather via email  on here that will be really helpful

[inspire]

hi Alessia
i traveled alone last month and i was totally fine. language is a huge barrier in Korea anyway, so the fact that you won't be able to speak won't make a difference. i'd just type things on my phone, or write them down for people. also, you are gonna be given a set of flashcards at the clinic in Korean and English for you to use. most restaurants have a menu is English as well, so you can just point out what you wanna order. if you plan on taking a cab just make sure you have the address ready to show it to the driver.  people were very understanding and i didn't have trouble at all.

Hey Jenn I wanted to check with you to see how your surgery went and if  u were able to talk and hear what you sound like now and if you are happy with the result.

[Alessia]

@Amy

Hey Amy!  I sent an email, thanks again for all the help

@Jenn

Hey Jenn! Thank you for sharing your experience,  I was a bit worried about the idea of traveling alone in Korea after surgery and not being able to communicate at all, but after reading your post, I feel much much much much better   I've been following your Yeson thread, you must be so excited to hear your voice once you've recovered!

@inspire

Hey!  Sure I would love to

Ciao

[jenn90210]

@Jenn

Hey Jenn! Thank you for sharing your experience,  I was a bit worried about the idea of traveling alone in Korea after surgery and not being able to communicate at all, but after reading your post, I feel much much much much better   I've been following your Yeson thread, you must be so excited to hear your voice once you've recovered!

no problem girl, if you have anymore questions let me know. yah i'm very excited to hear the final result, i love it so far.


[/quote]

Hey Jenn I wanted to check with you to see how your surgery went and if  u were able to talk and hear what you sound like now and if you are happy with the result.

yah everything's been healing nicely, i started talking a couple days ago and im very pleased with the results so far. i'll be posting a voice recording soon on my yeson thread.

[f_Anna_tastic]

How much would you say the process cost you? I'm planning on visiting yeson towards the end of the year.  I'm going to have to get a loan so I'm trying to get ballpark figures for costs x

[jenn90210]

How much would you say the process cost you? I'm planning on visiting yeson towards the end of the year.  I'm going to have to get a loan so I'm trying to get ballpark figures for costs x

the surgery         $7380
botox injection     $400
hotel for 9 nights  $900
airfare                 $900
and you'd need at least $800 to $1000 for miscellaneous expenses

you'd be looking at about $11000

[Joanne28]

Hi Alessia and everyone,

You will be fine travelling around alone as Yeson will give you a list of words written in both English and Korean and you just point when getting taxis etc. My only advice when moving around is to consider buying a mask to wear outside as I found the air pollution to be quite bad in Korea, they are readily available in the shops there and lots of people wear them. Also, another quick tip (hope this helps), you may not want to move around too much for a few days after the surgery for fear of coughing too much, make sure you stock your hotel room with loads of food and water before the op (as you don't want to be lifting anything too heavy straight away), I was getting through 3-4 litres a day the first few days. Hope all goes well, rest assured Dr Kim and his team are absolutely amazing and you are in good hands. Jo x

[Alessia]

@Joanne

Hi Joanne!

Thank you for all the great advice! I'll make sure to stock up a lot before the operation.  I was wondering about cell phone usage, my understanding is I'll have to rent a cell phone or use a wireless router.  Did you do either of these?  How about you Jenn?  Did you rent a cell phone or use a wireless router?  Thanks again for all the great feedback  

Ciao

[f_Anna_tastic]

I emailed yeson and Jessie has sent a reply.  I discussed it with my sister and she thinks it's definitely worth while.  I will be looking at getting the surgery before I go full time.  I have noted that yeson only accepts credit card or cash.  How did people pay for this?

[AmyBerlin]

Hi Anna,

I have noted that yeson only accepts credit card or cash.  How did people pay for this?

I wire-transferred the whole lump sum before heading to Seoul. Just ask Jessie for the account data. It took 4 days for the money to be deducted from my account and credited to Yeson's. Absolutely hassle-free.

Regards,

Amy

[Joanne28]

Hi Alessia and everyone,

Glad the advice was helpful.

I think you can buy sim cards out there but I just relied on the free wi fi access where I was staying.

I am 9 days post op today and feeling great !!

Jo x

[MeganChristine]

Anyone going there in the beginning of July?

[jenn90210]

@Joanne

Hi Joanne!

Thank you for all the great advice! I'll make sure to stock up a lot before the operation.  I was wondering about cell phone usage, my understanding is I'll have to rent a cell phone or use a wireless router.  Did you do either of these?  How about you Jenn?  Did you rent a cell phone or use a wireless router?  Thanks again for all the great feedback  

Ciao

i'd suggest you rent the wireless router at the airport since you won't be able to talk on the phone. that's what i did and it helped a lot

I emailed yeson and Jessie has sent a reply.  I discussed it with my sister and she thinks it's definitely worth while.  I will be looking at getting the surgery before I go full time.  I have noted that yeson only accepts credit card or cash.  How did people pay for this?

yes you can pay by cash US Dollar or Korean Won only and credit card.